Insomnia & Sleep Disorders

Summary

Approximately 20% of all Americans are affected by persistent sleep disorders, and are thus deprived of the restorative benefits that healthy sleep offers, such as stress reduction, regrowth of the immune system, repair of toxin damage, and overall improved mood. Lack of healthy sleep not only increases your likelihood of developing other types of illness, but it may dramatically increase stress amounts, impair mood, and affect your home and work life. Lack of sleep and sleep disorders contribute to thousands of car accidents in the U.S. each year, and leave nearly ½ of all adults feeling so tired during the day that they are unable to perform their daily activities without having some degree of interference caused by fatigue, according to the National Rest Foundation.

Studies have shown that sleep is determined by the body’s inner “time clock,” which is influenced by what are known as circadian rhythms. The term circadian is actually Latin and means, “inch around each day.” Circadian rhythms tend to follow the exact same cycles and patterns of the sun throughout a 24-hour period, and influence the times throughout the day when a person seems most conscious and alert, as well as those times when she or he feels exhausted or tired. People with healthy circadian rhythms have little trouble rising early in the day with plenty of energy, and tend to fall asleep and remain asleep very easily, generally retiring well before midnight. This was the normal rising and sleeping pattern for our ancestors. Nevertheless, due to numerous factors of the modern world, especially artificial light, it is far easier to interrupt the body’s natural circadian rhythms than it used to be. When this happens, restless sleep, as well as various other physical and psychological health disturbances, are likely to occur.

Poor sleep is such a significant problem in the United States, that Americans spend almost 20 billion dollars every year on sleep-associated medical care. Sleeping aids are particularly popular with over 13 million individuals receiving prescription medicines each year in order to try and get a good night’s rest. Not only do such medications neglect to address the underlying causes of sleep disorders, they can additionally cause serious side effects, including abnormal brain waves, imbalanced mind chemistry, reduced deep/REM (rapid eye movement or dream) sleep, addiction and withdrawal symptoms, and impaired cognitive ability during the day. Moreover, rest patterns and the quality of one’s sleep often become worse following stopping sleeping pills, compared to how they were before the drugs were used.

Types of Sleep Disorders & Their Signs and Symptoms:
There are many types of sleep disorders. What follows is an introduction to those that are most common.

Sophisticated Sleep Stage Syndrome: Those who are affected by sophisticated sleep stage syndrome typically find themselves falling asleep in the early evening (6 -9 p.m.), only to wake up around 2 am, after which they are unable to fall back asleep. As a result, they are usually tired during the day, and prone to anxiety and depression, mood swings, and tension.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome: People suffering from this condition typically find themselves chronically awake until 3 or 4 in the morning, and are generally unable to wake before 10 am without experiencing daytime fatigue, memory and cognition problems, and impaired physical functioning. Despite being exhausted during the day, they are unable to sleep again the following night.

Sleeplessness: Insomnia is the most common sleep problem with 58% of all American adults suffering from insomnia at least one evening per week. For those who work non-traditional shifts, the likelihood of insomnia increases to 66%. The end result is being tired and more prone to tension during the day.

There are three types of insomnia. Rest-beginning insomnia refers to insomnia that’s characterized by trouble falling asleep as soon as a person has entered bed. Once sleep does occur (often hours later), such individuals tend to sleep well for the rest of the night. Sleep-maintenance sleeplessness refers to problems sleeping throughout the night. It is characterized by waking up several times throughout the night, followed by difficulties falling back to sleep each time. The last category of insomnia is known as early-awakening sleeplessness. People who suffer from this condition regularly find themselves waking up much earlier in the morning than they would like, so that they fall short of getting enough rest.

Narcolepsy: This chronic sleep problem affects people by causing them to fall asleep during the day as a result of “sleep attacks.” When a sleep attack strikes, the person typically falls asleep instantly, sometimes for just a few seconds, and sometimes for half an hour or even more. In addition, the sleep episodes can occur more than once throughout the day, even while a person is speaking, eating, walking, and working. Narcolepsy has nothing to do with a proper night’s sleep and must be treated by your doctor.

Additional symptoms of narcolepsy include cataplexy which is a sudden, temporary lack of muscle performance, and disorienting hallucinations, and sleep paralysis, which can temporarily inhibit a narcoleptic person’s ability to speak. It is estimated that 20-25% of all people with narcolepsy suffer from all four of the above signs and symptoms.

Night Terrors: This condition causes affected individuals to suffer from intense, nightmare-like spells that can result in loud cries and screams, irritated kicking, and running out of the bedroom. Night terrors are not nightmares, however, and typically occur during non-dream phases of rest. Moreover, the people who suffer from them usually seem awake throughout the experiences, although they are in fact still asleep.

Symptoms of evening terrors consist of dilated pupils, heart palpitations, and intense sweating. The majority of cases occur amongst young children, however an estimated 1% of all adults are also suffering from this condition.

Periodic Limb Movements in Sleep (PLMS): PLMS is a sleep disorder that is characterized by abrupt, involuntary, repetitive actions of the limbs, especially the thighs during sleep. It may occur at the start of the rest cycle or even later. Throughout episodes of PLMS, the limbs can calm down and then begin moving again every 10-60 seconds, and can be repeated countless times, leaving sufferers feeling tired during the day.

REM Behavior Disorder (RBD): RBD is a sleep disorder that occurs during the dream, or REM, sleep stage. People who suffer from RBD actually act out their own dreams while they are happening without being aware that they are doing this. As they dream, their bodies will frequently exhibit stroking movements, in addition to jerking, repetitive movements from the head and neck, and rocking movements in their body and limbs. Because people who are suffering from RBD are unaware that their bodies are actually engaged during their dreams, they fail to realize when their movements prove harmful, such as head banging. In addition, because of their physical exertions, they are usually tired during the day and may find parts of their bodies bruised or cut as a result of RBD activity.

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS): Restless leg syndrome is associated with burning, itchiness, prickling, or even tugging in the legs that occur while a person is sleeping or resting. In some cases, these sensations also occur in the arms. The end result is a feeling of distress that makes falling and remaining asleep difficult because the sensations can often carry on for extended periods throughout the evening.

Sleep Apnea: Sleep Apnea is a costly health condition that is characterized by regular interruptions in the breathing process, which force the sleeper to awaken in order to gasp for air, often throughout the night. Each occurrence of disrupted breathing may last for up to a minute, using up oxygen and increasing the supply of harmful carbon dioxide. This ultimately causes the brain to signal a need to wake up, leading to the person doing so quickly before slipping back into sleeping again—usually having a loud gasp—until the episode repeats itself. As many as thirty such episodes may occur each hour, although they generally go unnoticed by the sleeper because of how short they are.

Because of the continuing interrupted sleep, people with this condition are often really tired or sleepy during the day, and can additionally suffer from anxiety, depression, headaches (especially in the morning), high blood pressure, heart attack, memory as well as cognition difficulties, and stroke. Caution: Children who suffer from sleep apnea will also be more susceptible to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). If your child has sleep apnea, look for prompt health care.

Causes of Sleep Disorders

All sleep disorders are triggered, or adversely influenced, through one or more of the following factors, most of which are typically ignored by conventional physicians.

Diet: Poor diet and/or bad eating habits, such as eating late in the evening, or just a few hours prior to bedtime, could cause or exacerbate sleeping problems. This is also true of the standard American diet, which lacks organic fruits and vegetables, and is high in salt, sugars, simple and refined carbohydrates, unhealthy oils, and processed prepared foods.

Extreme alcohol and caffeine consumption can also cause sleep problems. Alcohol can disrupt your body’s circadian rhythms and interfere with healthy REM sleep, while caffeine is a known stimulant that can leave you feeling on edge and unable to relax, thus preventing and interfering with sleep. Caffeine, particularly, has been connected by researchers to insomnia, periodic arm or leg movement in sleep, and restless leg syndrome.

Medicines: Drugs, both legal and illegal, can be powerful disruptors of wholesome sleep designs. Illicit medicines create a toxic burden in the body that can conflict with the ability to get a good night’s sleep. Many illegal drugs, for example amphetamines as well as cocaine, additionally act as stimuli, making sleep difficult by significantly changing the body’s organic circadian rhythms.

Legal medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, may similarly impact your ability to obtain a good night’s sleep. These include beta-blockers, cold and cough medicines (these contain caffeine and artificial stimulants such as ephedrine), dental contraceptives, artificial hormones, and thyroid medicines. In addition, all drugs, regardless of whether legal or illegal, produce a toxic load on the muscles and can impair other organ systems as well, making sleep more difficult.

Food Allergies and Sensitivities: Food allergies and sensitivities can interfere with normal sleep patterns and are a large contributing factor in sleeping disorders.

Two of the ways that food allergies and sensitivities may cause or worsen sleeping problems include ensuing hypoglycemia (reduced blood sugar), and increased histamine production. Sugar and carbohydrate foods are frequent triggers of food allergies which create spikes in blood sugar levels. When this happens, the body compensates by increasing levels of insulin. This creates an adrenal stress reaction characterized by jittery feelings and tension.

During hypersensitive food reactions, the body can also produce higher levels of histamine in the brain, disrupting brain chemistry. This production may greatly impact your ability to get a good night’s sleep, and can often lead to insomnia.

The most common foods that produce allergic reactions and sensitivities are caffeine, chocolate, corn, dairy products, wheat, items, sugars and refined carbohydrates. Any food can potentially trigger such reactions, however.

Note: If you suffer from sleeping problems accompanied by fatigue throughout the day (especially upon awakening and throughout the morning) and/or frequent feelings of irritability, most likely your condition has been caused or exacerbated by food allergies.

Geopathic Tension: Geopathic tension refers to energy fields within the earth which are unbalanced and capable of interfering with the bio-electric fields, and the health, of those who dwell near such places, which are usually geological fault lines, large mineral deposits or streams. Manmade devices, for example, computers, electrical blankets, and clocks create common electrical currents of 60 cycle frequencies, and may also cause geopathic stress, as can power lines and heavy machines.

Research has shown that natural geopathic tension zones under or near sleeping areas, combined with geopathic stress caused by manmade products in the bedroom, can considerably affect a person’s sleeping patterns, and can additionally cause or even contribute to an array of other health problems, including most cancers, depression, headaches, and migraines.

Hormone Imbalances: Hormone imbalances, such as excessive adrenaline and/or cortisone production, can make sleep difficult. Lack of melatonin may also cause sleep disorders, as can the hormonal shifts that occur in both men and women as they transition in to middle age and experience declines in the body’s production of sex hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone.

Insufficient Exercise: Lack of regular exercise usually results in chronic muscle pressure and the accumulation of stress in the body, which could make calming and dropping off to sleep more difficult.

Additional Potential Problems: People afflicted with various diseases can often experience sleep disorders. However, when their problem is resolved, usually sleeping troubles are resolved too.

Psychological Factors: Various mental factors, such as unresolved anxiousness, depression, hopelessness, fear, grief, as well as positive emotions such as exhilaration and euphoria, can hinder your ability to obtain a good night’s sleep. These kind of psychological elements can cause imbalances in your biochemistry and biology and, if prolonged, may also create various other disturbances, for example indigestion and other gastrointestinal problems that can keep you awake through the night. In addition, such factors can also interfere with the brain’s ability to properly create nerve signals and hormones such as melatonin which is needed for restful sleep. Persistent stress can also cause destruction of the adrenals, further aggravating sleep disorders.

Smoking: Smoking, and contact with cigarette smoke may interfere with sleep because of nicotine and other chemicals contained in cigarettes. Nicotine acts as a stimulant and can trigger insomnia and other sleep disorders, while many of the other chemicals contained in cigarettes can create a toxic load on the liver to further disrupt healthy sleep patterns.

Structural Imbalances: Structural imbalances within the body, such as muscle mass tension and/or a misaligned spine, can contribute to sleep disorders because they interfere with the flow of nerve signals back and forth from the brain. They can also keep you awake through the night due to the pain they cause in the joints and muscles.

Toxicity: The buildup of poisons, especially in the colon and liver, can be another significant cause of, or contributing factor to sleep disorders. Once the functioning of the colon and liver becomes impaired as a result of internal toxicity, a variety of health related problems, such as allergies, infections, gastrointestinal difficulties, and heartburn, can quickly follow, which can hinder healthy sleep. In addition, certain heavy metals, for example mercury, which is commonly found in people with dental amalgam teeth fillings, or people who regularly eat seafood such as shark and tuna, and people who have received shots, can also encounter sleeping difficulties. Overall, toxins of any kind may potentially deplete your body’s supply of the nutrients and hormones necessary for controlling healthy sleep patterns.

Harmful Sleep Atmosphere: The environment of the bedroom may have a major impact on the caliber of your rest. Bedrooms that are excessively cold, hot, or humid, or even which have poor indoor air quality and air flow, can make healthy sleep difficult, as can sleeping rooms without windows and sleeping on mattresses that are too hard, too soft, or otherwise uncomfortable.

Organic Cures

The following alternative treatment approaches tend to be highly effective for treating and preventing sleep problems.

Ayurveda Treatments: According to Ayurveda physicians, sleep problems arise through imbalances within what is known as vata, the aspect of a person’s constitution which is responsible for regulating the body’s blood circulation and the breath. Vata imbalances are said to create emotions of increased anxiety, irritation, and worry which makes rest and sleep more difficult.

To correct vata imbalances, Ayurveda physicians massage coconut, mustard, or sesame oil on their patients’ heads and feet as well as utilize restful meditation and visualization techniques. The use of the aromatic fragrances of lavender, jasmine, flowers, and sandalwood are also popular to promote deep relaxation and restful sleep.

Bedtime Rituals: Often the reason people have issues sleeping is because they approach sleep in a habitual, unconscious manner, simply going to bed with no conscious attention to what they are doing. By making bedtime rituals, you can become more conscious about your approach to sleep and help yourself induce emotions of rest that will make falling asleep easier. Here are some simple to apply self-care methods you can use for this purpose:

To forget bothersome worries that might otherwise keep you awake, make it a routine to meditate before you go to bed, focusing on inhaling and exhaling. As you meditate, breathe gently and deeply in and out of your abdomen. This is a very effective way to create what is known as the “rest response.”

Get in the habit of taking a relaxing warm bath before you got to bed. To enhance your bath’s calming effects, add half a cup of baking soda or Epsom salts to the water, along with a few drops of eucalyptus essential oil or mustard powder.

To further forget about the day’s concerns, consider keeping a regular journal.

Avoid stressful actions prior to going to sleep, such as bill-paying or balancing your checkbook. Also prevent any interactions with others that might produce feelings of stress.

If you have a spouse or partner, think about giving each other a therapeutic massage to relieve muscle tension.

Biofeedback Training: Biofeedback Training can help you to quickly become more conscious of and gain greater mindful control of bodily responses that normally occur unconsciously and instantly, such as breath and heart rate. Learning to control this type of function via Biofeedback Training makes it easier to induce emotions of rest. The end result is less stress in general which makes it easier to relax and fall asleep.

A more advanced type of Biofeedback Training, known as Neurofeedback Therapy, employs the use of pulsing sound wavelengths that are listened to through earphones. Neurofeedback Treatment has been shown to be very effective for improving a person’s brain wave activity, making it easier to initiate a relaxed “leader” state that is not only more conducive for generating healthy rest, but can additionally heighten creativity and dramatically reduce tension. Neurofeedback Therapy is especially helpful for people who have a difficult time producing alpha brain waves as well as those who are habitually “trapped” inside a state of habitual worry.

Dealing with Electromagnetic Pollution and Geopathic Stress: To protect yourself from the dangerous effects of electromagnetic pollution and geopathic tension, sleep in a bed that has a frame made from wood and doesn’t contain many metal parts. Also make sure that your mattress and spring are free of metal coils, because metal is a conductor of electromagnetic currents.

In addition, be sure that your bed is positioned a minimum of six ft. away from electrical devices, including your bedroom clock. In addition, unplug all other devices in your bedroom, such as a computer, stereo, or tv. Also avoid the use of electric blankets and electric heating pads, and waterbeds.

To help minimize your risk of being exposed to geopathic stress, avoid sleeping in areas positioned over fuel tanks, garages, or even steel girders, and think about the use of a geomagnetometer to help you determine whether your bedroom is located near or over land affected by geopathic tension points.

Diet plan: Your diet is among the most important personal-care approaches you can take for preventing and reversing sleep disorders. To begin, you should determine whether or not you are allergic or sensitive to any of the foods you eat. This can be accomplished utilizing a food allergy blood test, or even through an elimination diet by which you avoid eating suspected meals for a minimum of four weeks. As you do so, notice any kind of improvements in your health. After the four weeks, reintroduce the suspected food, eating it by itself. If you experience signs and symptoms within 24 to 96 hours after you do eat the suspected food, you should avoid consuming it again.

Another easy way of detecting food allergies is to take your resting pulse before you decide to eat. Then eat the possible allergen food alone. Retake your pulse 10 minutes following eating. If your pulse has increased by ten points or even more during that time, most likely the meal you consumed is something you are allergic or even sensitive to.

To improve your diet, avoid alcohol, caffeine in all forms (including dark chocolate, non-herbal teas, and soda), sugar, refined carbohydrates, unhealthy fats, and refined salt. Emphasize a diet that contains plenty of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables (particularly raw veggies and salad greens). Also include whole-grains, complex carbohydrates, and high-protein foods such as legumes, nuts, free range meats and poultry, and fresh water fish. Also cook or season with healthy oils, for example coconut, flax seed, extra virgin olive oil, as well as walnut natural oils to ensure an adequate supply of wholesome fats to the brain, enhancing brain function and overall health. An easy healthy bedtime treat of free-range turkey may also be helpful simply because turkey contains L–tryptophan, an important amino acid for increasing serotonin production. (Make sure that you don’t eat a full dinner near bed time, however, because doing so will keep you awake at night.)

Feng Shui: Feng shui is an aspect of traditional Chinese theory that maximizes the ability of homes and other buildings to receive the benefits of the Earth’s positive, organic energies, especially the flow of vital energy known as Chi. According to feng shui theory, the following recommendations are important for ensuring a restful night’s sleep:

Be sure your mattress is positioned diagonally across from your bedroom entry.

If you can’t place your mattress diagonally across from your room’s entrance, place a mirror opposite to the entry and place wind chimes between your bed and the doorway.

If your bed lies across from the door, place a shelf behind it with plants or candles to prevent the flow associated with Qi from stagnating.

If at all possible, have your own bed face the sun.

Do not sleep next to or even beneath a window, as this can dissipate your supply of Chi while you sleep at night.

To ensure healthy bedroom Chi, keep your bedroom window open to allow a fresh supply of air as well as sunlight.

Don’t have your bed facing sharp edges through dressers, bookcases, or other furniture.

Cover bedroom tables and bathrooms with a reflection or different kind of divider to prevent the flow associated with Chi being interrupted.

Herbal Medicine: Useful herbal treatments for healthy rest include lavender, hops, licorice root, lime scale blossom, linden root, passionflower, Siberian ginseng, skullcap, and valerian extract, all of which can be taken as tea. Kava-Kava supplements may also be helpful.

An herbal bath prior to sleep can alleviate tense muscles and promote relaxation. A good way to do this is to place loose chamomile, lavender, and/or linden flowers in a muslin tote; then put it in your bath tub as it floods with warm water.

Homeopathy: The following homeopathic remedies can also be helpful, especially for severe sleeping difficulties (chronic sleep problems may require the help of a trained, classical Homeopath).

Aconite: For sleep problems associated with restlessness and/or nightmares, or even which are made worse after times of emotional shock or panic.

Arsenicum : For issues that cause you to wake up some time after falling asleep and 2 a.m. This herb is also helpful for sleeping difficulties associated with anxiety.

Belladonna: For people who have trouble sleeping because they are extra sensitive to exterior stimuli or those who are angry or agitated and are not able to fall asleep.

Chamomilla: For when you are unable to sleep due to feeling wide awake and irritable.

Coculus: For when you feel too jumpy or exhausted to drift off.

Coffea: For sleep problems caused by a racing mind.

Ignatia: For insomnia accompanied by frequent yawns and/or caused by emotional annoyance, and for rest accompanied by nightmares.

Lycopodium: For people with overactive minds who are unable to let go of the day’s matters and/or people who are heavy dreamers who awaken each time their dreams finish.

Muriaticum acidum: For insomnia due to suffering, extreme psychological sensitivity, and/or even intolerance to sunshine.

Natrum muriaticum: For sleep problems caused by anxiety, upsetting pain, and/or sickness caused by emotional upset, and for people who tend to be bothered by heat and sudden sounds.

Nux vomica: For sleep problems due to mental strain, overeating, alcoholic beverage consumption, withdrawal from alcohol or sleeping pills, and for people who wake up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back asleep till it is time to get up; this remedy can also be useful for people who suffer from nightmares that make them irritable during the day.

Opium: For sleep problems brought on by sensations that your bed is too hot due to excessively sharp senses that make a person unable to rest due to external stimuli.

Pulsatilla: For sleep issues that are characterized by first feeling too warm and then too cold, leaving you feeling stressed; also helpful for sleep problems brought on by nightmares following a meal of rich foods.

Rhus. Toxicodendron: For sleep issues accompanied by feelings of distress or pain, restlessness, as well as irritability, as well as a need to freak out.

For the best results, attempt the above remedies(separately) one hour before bed.

Hydrotherapy: Hydrotherapy is the process of using water, ice, and steam and alternating hot and cold temperatures to maintain and restore health. Remedies include complete body immersion, steam baths, saunas, sitz baths, colonic irrigation and the application of hot and/or cold compresses. Hydrotherapy is effective for treating a wide array of conditions and can easily be used in the home as part of a personal-care program. Many Naturopathic Doctors, Physical Therapists and day spas use Hydrotherapy as part of their treatment. We recommend several at-home hydrotherapy treatments. Please seek the advice of the alternative healthcare practitioner before undergoing these procedures to make sure they are right for you.

*Purified water is essential for any hydrotherapy treatment. Remedies for treating water offer clear instructions and recommendations.

Juice Therapy: Mix the liquid of celery, romaine lettuce, and spinach and drink before going to bed.

Change in lifestyle: The following easy lifestyle changes can help you to more easily fall and remain asleep and are especially helpful for treating insomnia.

Once you enter bed, avoid looking at your own clock: Doing this will minimize the risk of worrying about how exactly long it is taking you to fall asleep. Worry exacerbates sleeplessness and other sleep problems.

If you can’t drift off, get out of bed: Insomnia is actually improved if, instead of lying awake in bed, you get up and out of the bedroom to sit down somewhere else until you start to feel sleepy. Listening to relaxing music or reading a book can help you relax. Once you start to really feel drowsy, go back to your bed. Repeat this process as often as is necessary.

Do not read or watch tv in bed: Engaging in these actions breaks or cracks the association your mind needs between being in bed and sleeping.

Exercise Regularly: Regular exercise throughout the week can make restful sleep more possible. Ideally, you should exercise for 30 minutes at least three times every week. Avoid doing so too near to your bed time, however, as this can actually make sleep more difficult.

Get in the habit of going to bed each night simultaneously: Going to bed the same time each night helps you to program the mind that the body is meant with to sleep at that time. In the event that you can do this for at least 21 nights in a row, a powerful association between sleep and the time you go to bed will develop subconsciously in your mind, making restful sleep simpler and more habitual.

Avoid spending time in bed when you do not want to sleep: Your bed should be for sleeping only. For alternative activities, such as reading and watching television, sit on a chair or couch, preferably in another room besides your bedroom.

Light Therapy: Complete-spectrum and vibrant-gentle therapies which mimic organic sunlight can help improve sleep problems. Ideally, you should ensure that you obtain 3-4 hours of full-spectrum or bright-gentle exposure every day.

Also make sure to spend at least 15-30 minutes each day outside in natural sunshine, especially throughout the morning (7-9 a.m.). Research has proven that contact with sunlight during this period helps to preserve proper performance of your system’s circadian rhythms and biological clock.

Natural Hormone Therapy: Natural endocrine therapy can be particularly valuable in regard to treating sleep disorders caused by hormone imbalances, particularly during or after menopause for women, and for middle age and older in men. Practitioners of natural hormone therapy study their patients’ hormone levels after which they create natural hormone alternative formulas which are biologically similar to the body’s hormones naturally created by your body. These types of formulas, which may be applied topically and are soaked up through the skin, include estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Adrenal hormones can also be used.

Another useful hormone for sleep problems is melatonin, which is available as a dental supplement. Melatonin has been thoroughly researched as a natural sleep aid, and has been found to be extremely potent for short-term use. It is capable of helping not only insomnia, but also other sleep disorders such as advanced and delayed sleep phase problems and REM behavior condition. It has also been shown to improve restful, deep sleep and to promote sleep within 30 minutes after it is ingested.

Be aware: Melatonin should not be used for a long time without the guidance of a health practitioner trained in its use. In addition, initial doses should be small, typically between one-half to two milligrams taken before bedtime. If you find you need to increase your dose, do so in small increments (no more than an additional one milligram). Once you start to experience the benefits of melatonin, it is also advisable that you cease using after two weeks, so that your body does not stop generating its own levels of melatonin.

Nutritional Supplements: The following supplements can all be helpful for treating sleep problems: B-complex vitamins, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin E, calcium supplement, chromium, copper mineral (taken away from zinc), iron (if you also suffer from anemia; otherwise you need to receive all of your body’s iron needs from foods such as eggs, meat, nuts, seed products, and green, leafy veggies); magnesium, and the amino acids phosphatidyl-serine and M-tryptophan.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): According to traditional Chinese theory, most sleep disorders are caused by weakness within the kidneys. TCM practitioners concentrate on improving kidney function and energy levels by utilizing acupuncture in combination with Chinese herbs, such as the natural combination liu wei di huang wan, which can be purchased from any Chinese herbal apothecary.

Qigong exercises and meditation are also encouraged to both increase energy and relaxation.

An additional Chinese remedy for dealing with insomnia is to soak your feet in hot water before you go to sleep. Once your feet air dry, cover them with cotton clothes that are loose fitting, then larger wool socks. This can help to increase circulation to your extremities, inducing emotions of relaxation and drowsiness.

An alternative to the above technique is to place a hot water container at the foot of your mattress, near you. For best results, place the container on a cushion so that the warmth it emits will strike the mid-bottoms of your ft.

Treating Sleep Apnea: The following recommendations can help to reduce, and even totally reverse, the signs of sleep apnea:

Consider the use of a constant positive air passage pressure (CPAP) device, which is a mask which forces oxygen in via your nose, helping to keep your mouth open.

Slim down if you are obese or overweight. Doing so will not only improve your overall health, it will also decrease the amount of body fat in the tissues of your throat, making it easier for air to flow in and out of your entire body.

Sew a tennis ball into the back of your pajamas. This will keep you from resting on your back, thus reducing the chance of sleep apnea attacks.

If you smoke, stop, as well as avoid secondhand smoke. Smoking causes inflammation of the throat and sinuses. (For ways to stop smoking, see Addictions.)

Avoid the use of alcoholic beverages, as well as medications such as antihistamines, sleeping pills and tranquilizers, all of which can cause your throat muscles to collapse.

Use nasal spray which is offered at your local pharmacy, to keep your nasal pathways open, allowing for the intake of much more air.

Make sure your home, especially your bedroom, is free of dirt, mold, and other allergy triggers that can trigger nasal blockage.

Sleep with your head elevated to help your sinuses drain and to improve breathing.

Prior to going to bed, make sure to clear your nasal passages by using a nasal irrigation gadget such as a Water Pik. You may also mix a pinch of salt in with water and apply the mixture to each nostril with an eye dropper.

Make it a routine to go to sleep at the same time every night to create wholesome sleep habits.

Consider using a customized dental splint, which will hold your tongue in place to prevent obstructed breathing.

Optional Professional Treatment

The following therapies can also help to prevent and reverse sleep problems: Acupuncture, Chiropractic, Craniosacral Therapy, Detoxification Therapy, Guided Imagery, Magnetic Therapy, Mind/Body Medicine, Orthomolecular Treatments, Osteopathic Treatments, Naturopathic Medicine, Qigong as well as Tai Chihuahua. (See Glossary for descriptions of these Optional Treatments).